what system musicians prefer? Do they care?

"One told me that his mind probably fills in the missing information"
Cheap but so practical!

Sometime ago on Steve Guttenberg’s “Audiophiliac” vlog he had a prominent guest audiologist who catered to a clientele that were in the music industry, musicians, engineers, masters, etc. for custom IEM’s.  She had some interesting observations to share. She said audiological testing results indicate that musicians hearing was more likely to be compromised than non musicians. That the test results can usually indicate what instruments the musician tested played. And that classical musicians hearing tended to be the more compromised than other genres  (she postulated that that might be due to the additional increased practice time of classical musicians).
I don’t play, but know many musicians and have attended many rehearsals and performances. Some music professionals asked for my help in buying audio systems. Usually they buy good value oriented budget high end systems that can play back the particular instrument they play especially well, violinist choose differently than trombonist.
I have the feeling that musicians tend to be more interesting in the construct of the music and how they can fit into it, than in the pure sonics of it. What they hear on the bandstand is very different than what the audience hears in their seats.

@gano,
"One told me that his mind probably fills in the missing information"

Cheap but so practical!


Does this mean that we audiophiles who are refusing to employ our imaginations are lazy compared to musicians?


@dekay ,
Thanks for posting the Lou Reed links.
I can imagine that John Cale would use similar tactics with the use of the volume dial to determine amp/speaker credibility. 

@mcslipp ,
Yes, ATC do seem to be the goto brand for professionals and musicians.

Why would I care what a musician wants for a system? Typically, I've not been overly impressed with the rigs that musicians have put together. Half of the ones I've seen, they are dropping the bottom frequencies under 40Hz, as if this is no problem. I'm going to let someone like that direct a system build? NO, thank you!  :) 

Nothing personal, phasemonger, but your comment, "Put another way, there’s every bit of music to hear and experience from a crappy radio vs. a great sound system. Articulation, pitch manipulation, tempo, instrument usage, and dynamic choices come through pretty well even on a static-ey AM station. Agreed you lose a huge amount of timbre and sound fidelity, but you don’t lose much if anything of the musical performance characteristics," is a good example. 

I strongly disagree with the assessment that there is every bit as much articulation as with a more capable system. I also find "instrument usage" to be nebulous; perhaps it refers to complex passages in which many are playing simultaneously, in which case there is NO comparison between a poor radio/system and a formidable system. One clearly hears the performance better, and imo, in a much more impactful way,  with a high end rig. Just because one may be able to get emotionally into the music in no way means it's a great listen, i.e. worth listening to by someone who wants superior, quality listening. It's not terribly exciting to hear distortion of a low end rig slaughtering the performance, especially since it does not have to be that way. 

Yes,  when you have cheap audio you lose "sound fidelity", which IS the quality of the music. Crappy or heavenly performance is one thing. Sound quality is entirely another.  Anyone can excuse away mediocrity, for any number of reasons. I chose not to have mediocrity in the sound I am hearing.   :) 

I used to be the only CA dealer for ATC. They are a professional tool used by many musicians, studios and concert halls. But the only Audio company I know that has rave endorsements from many of the world’s foremost musician/audiophiles using them in their homes is TetraSpeakers (.com).
Herbie Hancock, Winton Marsalis, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Benny Golson, etc. Keith Richards took a pair on tour. Herbie has 6 pair.
I own 3 pair and will never own an other line. The musicians love them because they uniquely sound “real”. 2009 hit Tetra hard but they are making a comeback with a new top line model-the 606 V2.